Hebrew for Lamb

My name is Hebrew for "lamb" or "ewe" depending which book you're reading. Maybe that's why I've always had a special place in my heart for sheep. Sure, horses, llamas, camels and giraffes have always rated high, but sheep are pretty cool too. My sister Vivian bought some great beads and made a cute bracelet with them. That bracelet sold earlier this month but I just couldn't help but want to get my hands on some of those beads. I found them in green and blue. I just love these little guys and hope that you do too. Cat's eye beads or fiber optic beads were also used.

For Aunt Belva

On Thursday I got an email from my dad saying that my great Aunt Belva had passed away. I got in my car and drove to Indiana that day and drove the rest of the way to Maryland the next day, went to the funeral, stayed through Sunday, drove back to Indiana on Monday and made it home to Wisconsin on Tuesday. I didn't know Aunt Belva too well, at least compared to her children and grandchildren, but she still made an impact on me. I couldn't explain it, but when I heard that she had passed I knew I just had to come back to Maryland to the funeral. I just had to say "goodbye" to her. I'm glad I did. I remember at the family reunions that she would always smile at me and have delicious treats for us kids. For a little girl, family reunions were fun but it was a bit daunting walking around among the adults. I had cousins and siblings to play with but of course the older family members wanted to talk to us and say how much we'd grown. Aunt Belva was just always kind to me. Sure, we all have our flaws and I personally don't like it when people say you can't speak a bad word about the dead. Not that we want to drag their name through the dirt... I suppose my dad said it best. He was truthful. Aunt Belva was like her parents. They had a hard life. They worked hard and could be gruff but they also had a lot of love to give to their family. Aunt Belva, like her mother, loved flowers. So, for her, I'm posting a picture of some flowers that just popped out in our front yard last spring. No promotion today.

Been Busy

I've been pretty busy lately. I've made quite a few things and it takes just as long, if not, longer, to put them on Etsy. I've really enjoyed being able to create though. I've bought a lot of beads lately. I love beads and shopping for beads. I'm really not much of a shopper. I hate shopping for most things but I love shopping for beads. I can walk through a store and will see a string of beads and just know what I want to make with them. The problem is that I went to two bead shops last week. We're not talking about Michaels or JoAnn Fabrics. This are high quality bead shops. It's all about beading there. I just couldn't help myself. I loved so many beads! I just walked through the shops and came up with ideas for all kinds of jewelry. Now I'm actually making it and putting it in my shop. I am thrilled with these beads! I got some rubies, jade and jasper beads that I love. You can find the results here, here and here. I really enjoy working with multiple strands of beads on one piece. I think colorful stone beads lend themselves well to this. I tend to use a lot of color and bigger beads more often then smaller beads and neutral colors. One of my favorite new things is the frog necklace. I love that little guy. It makes for a colorful and fun necklace and I got to use all glass beads. Glass is probably my favorite.

Beading has just become addicting. It takes time and patience but you get a beautiful product. I just love it! What do you like to make and/or wear? Anyone else enjoy beading? Do you make things that you enjoy but may not be totally "in style" or do you make what you know people will buy because it's the current trend regardless of how you feel about that trend?

Spring is Coming

Today I made a tutu for Wilhelmina. She is my plush hippo that Nate got me for Valentine's Day. She's very soft and I just through she might like dressing up. So I made her a black, pink and purple tutu with some nice earrings and necklace. Pictures to come.

This past weekend I met another nice person on Etsy. She loves using lampwork beads like I do. Glass beads are so versatile. I love the bright colors you can get. Check out the greens in this necklace. They just go so well together.

One nice thing about making jewelry is that I can make whatever I want and not have to pay ridiculous prices. It also makes a slight problem. I don't seem to want to sell anything that I make. Everything that I have for sale, I'd like to keep. I don't make anything that I don't like. Then when it's time to say goodbye to it, it's harder than if I just made things I didn't like. It's something I've spent a lot of though and time on. It's a little part of me. I want to do good work but it's also personal. I guess what keeps it from being too hard is the fact that someone else likes it as much as I do.

Now I need to make some things.

Revamped!

I started this blog thinking it would be for promoting purposes only. I've found that, after much careful consideration, I just can't do that. I'm not one to feel comfortable writing chessy advertisements to get people to buy my stuff. Sure, who doesn't want to make a sale? But, I just can't have this as a virtual billboard for things and leave it at that. I like to write. Starting today the blog is changing. I'm not just going to post pretty pictures and descriptions of things I make. I want to talk about them, what inspires me to make them and about other things in life. While I stumbled into making jewelry and wedding veils, it's now become a big part of my life.

I think it's interesting how a lot of things that happened weren't planned. I didn't plan on making jewelry, I didn't plan on playing the cello, I didn't plan on getting married so soon after college and I definitely didn't plan on being a math major in college. It just happened. I think some of the best things in life aren't planned by us. Things just work out.

It's Cold in Winter!

It has been a crazy winter. For my friends, well I miss you guys in Maryland. I really could have used a buddy to go get coffee with. Melissa and LP are good for going for coffee. I miss them. With the snow around here I could have used a nice hot cup of coffee or tea.


I think a rough winter deserves a fun spring. That is why I'm packing up my stuff and the dog and heading to Maryland for about 10 days in April. I'd love to bring Nate but he has work obligations. I'm hoping to do the Maryland tour and have Obie with me. Just about everyone in Maryland has asked about him and they all want to meet him. I actually think that if I don't bring him they won't want to see me and will send me driving back to Wisconsin. Obie loves a good car ride so he should be fine with it.

I really need to keep up with this blog thing. I love putting up pictures of things I've made and sharing them. I like to get some feedback on what I've made. I also like to write a little bit about me and connect with people. Winter has been pretty wintery here and I don't get out much. I've got some pretty bad cabin fever. I've been tutoring, working around the house, reading books, watching Numb3rs and NCIS and making jewelry. Some of those things are what I do to make a living and keep things from falling apart... other things in that list are just fun things to do. Going for walks has been hard lately. I need ice skates more than shoes. I also want to share this scarf my sister made... the one in the picture. Vivian is just 14 and she is so talented! That scarf is just so pretty and soft! She just has this great knack to make great things. I'm so proud of her.

Yes, the title seems obvious, but it's really been cold this winter with few exceptions. This scarf is the answer! The pockets can stretch a bit as well. Thank you Hannah for modeling!

My Crazy Bracelet

This bracelet took several days to make. It's a watch band with three layers of beads attached. Hundreds of seed beads were used to make this colorful bracelet. It's surprisingly light and very colorful. The seed beads used are not all of one size.

Vivian Makes Things Too!

A few things have changed since November. I recently started selling my sister Vivian's creations. She is too young to have her own shop but she makes some great stuff. Check out this great lily pad pin cushion!

Spring Stones

It's been a long winter in Wisconsin. It's going to be even longer. There's still snow on the ground even though we just had a winter thaw. I needed to make something that reminded me of warmer times. Here's a spring bracelet made with turquoise stone beads and pink shell beads.

Pink Flowers

These pink flower hairpins are made with Swarovski crystals with a clear Czech glass center.

Hairpins

I've recently discovered how much fun it is to make hairpins. I've always been a fan of flowers so here we have blue daisy flower hairpins. You can find this here.

Spiders are so cute!

I've been gone for awhile. I've been pretty busy and have had some health issues but I'm back in the game. I'm going to post some of my latest creations. Here we have my spider bracelet. It features blue cat's eye beads, pink faceted cat's eye beads and a blue spider lampwork bead. You can find it here.